This invention relates to control pedal apparatuses and more particularly to adjustment means for selectively adjusting the position of one or more of the control pedals of a motor vehicle.
In a conventional automotive vehicle, pedals are provided for controlling brakes and engine throttle. If the vehicle has a manual transmission, a clutch pedal is also provided. These pedals are foot operated by the driver. In order for the driver to obtain the most advantageous position for working these controls, the vehicle front seat is usually slidably mounted on a seat track with means for securing the seat along the track and a plurality of adjustment positions.
The adjustment provided by moving the seat along the seat track does not accommodate all vehicle operators due to differences in anatomical dimensions. Further, there is growing concern that the use of seat tracks, and especially long seat tracks, constitutes a safety hazard and that the seat may pull loose from the track during an accident with resultant injuries to the driver and/or passengers. It is therefore desirable to either eliminate the seat track entirely or shorten the seat track so that it will be strong enough to retain the seat during an impact. Shortening or eliminating the seat track requires that means be provided to selectively move the various control pedals to accommodate various sized drivers.
Various proposals were made over a period of many years to provide selective adjustment of the pedal positions to accommodate various sized drivers, but none of these proposals met with any significant commercial acceptance since the proposed mechanisms were unduly complex and expensive and/or were extremely difficult to operate and/or accomplish the required pedal adjustment only at the expense of altering other critical dimensional relationships as between the driver and the various pedals. Recently, a control pedal mechanism has been developed which is simple and inexpensive, easy to operate, and that accomplishes the required pedal adjustment without altering other critical dimensional relationships as between the driver and the various pedals. This control pedal mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,875,385, 4,989,474, and 5,078,024, all assigned to the assignee of the present application. The present invention represents improvements to the basic adjustable control pedal design disclosed in these patents.